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Jesús "Jess" Franco (born 12 May 1930 as Jesús Franco Manera) is a Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 film director
Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
, writer
Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scenarists are scriptwriters who write the screenplays from which films and television programs are made.Most screenwriters start their careers writing on speculation....
, cinematographer
Cinematographer

A cinematographer is one photography with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting film crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image....
 and actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
. Though he had an American box office success with his first women in prison film
Women in prison films

Women in prison film is a subgenre of exploitation film that began in the late 1960s and continues to the present day.Their stories feature imprisoned women who are subjected to sexual and physical abuse, typically by sadistic male or female prison wardens and guards....
, 99 Women, in 1969, he never achieved wide commercial success. Franco has nevertheless retained a small cult following with his sexually-charged horror film
Horror film

Horror films are movies that strive to elicit responses of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of the supernatural....
s. He was very prolific during the 1960s through the late 1980s, and while he continues to work, his output has slowed down in recent years.

co has sometimes worked under various pseudonym
Pseudonym

A pseudonym, , is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name. In some cases, pseudonyms are adopted because it is part of a cultural or organizational tradition, as in the case of Religious names used by members of some religious orders and "cadre names" used by Communist party leaders such as Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin....
s, including David Khune and Frank Hollmann.






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Jesús "Jess" Franco (born 12 May 1930 as Jesús Franco Manera) is a Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 film director
Film director

A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a film. A film director visualizes the Screenplay, controlling a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfillment of his or her vision....
, writer
Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scenarists are scriptwriters who write the screenplays from which films and television programs are made.Most screenwriters start their careers writing on speculation....
, cinematographer
Cinematographer

A cinematographer is one photography with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting film crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image....
 and actor
Actor

An actor or actress is a person who acting in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio programming in that capacity....
. Though he had an American box office success with his first women in prison film
Women in prison films

Women in prison film is a subgenre of exploitation film that began in the late 1960s and continues to the present day.Their stories feature imprisoned women who are subjected to sexual and physical abuse, typically by sadistic male or female prison wardens and guards....
, 99 Women, in 1969, he never achieved wide commercial success. Franco has nevertheless retained a small cult following with his sexually-charged horror film
Horror film

Horror films are movies that strive to elicit responses of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of the supernatural....
s. He was very prolific during the 1960s through the late 1980s, and while he continues to work, his output has slowed down in recent years.

Career

Franco has sometimes worked under various pseudonym
Pseudonym

A pseudonym, , is a fictitious alternative to a person's legal name. In some cases, pseudonyms are adopted because it is part of a cultural or organizational tradition, as in the case of Religious names used by members of some religious orders and "cadre names" used by Communist party leaders such as Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin....
s, including David Khune and Frank Hollmann. A big fan of jazz music
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 (and a musician himself), many of his pseudonyms are taken from famous jazz musicians, such as Clifford Brown
Clifford Brown

Clifford Brown , aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated United States jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings....
 and James P. Johnson
James P. Johnson

James Price Johnson [A.K.A. "Jimmy Johnson"] was an African-American pianist and composer. With Luckey Roberts, Johnson was one of the originators of the Stride piano style of jazz piano playing....
.

Franco's themes often revolved around lesbian vampire
Lesbian vampire

Lesbian vampirism is a Trope in 20th century exploitation film that has its roots in Joseph Sheridan le Fanu's novella Carmilla about the predatory love of a female vampire for a young woman :...
s, women in prison
Women in prison films

Women in prison film is a subgenre of exploitation film that began in the late 1960s and continues to the present day.Their stories feature imprisoned women who are subjected to sexual and physical abuse, typically by sadistic male or female prison wardens and guards....
, and sexual exploration (including several films based on the writings of Marquis de Sade
Marquis de Sade

Donatien Alphonse Fran?ois de Sade, Marquis de Sade was a France aristocrat, revolutionary and novelist. His novels were philosophical novel and sadomasochistic, exploring such controversial subjects as rape, bestiality and necrophilia....
). Franco also worked in other exploitation film
Exploitation film

Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising....
 genres, such as cannibal film
Cannibal film

Cannibal films are a sub genre of exploitation film made mostly by Cinema of Italy through the 1970s and 1980s. This sub genre is a collection of graphically gory movies that usually depict cannibalism by primitive, Stone-age natives deep inside the Asian or South American rain forests....
s and nunsploitation
Nunsploitation

Nunsploitation is a subgenre of exploitation film, which had its peak in Europe in the 1970s. These films typically involve Christian nuns living in convents during the Middle Ages....
.

His movies often contain long, uninterrupted shots of nude women writhing uncontrollably on the floor or in bed (such as in Lorna The Exorcist and La comtesse noire). He is also notorious for his use of hand-held camera
Hand-held camera

Hand-held camera or hand-held shooting is a film and video technique in which a camera is literally held in the camera-operator's hands--as opposed to being placed on a Tripod ....
 and zoom
ZOOM

ZOOM was an United States educational television show, created almost entirely by children, which aired on PBS from January 1972 to March 1978....
 shots, especially between 1968 and 1975.

He has frequently worked with actors Howard Vernon
Howard Vernon

Howard Vernon , real name Mario Lippert, was a Swiss actor.He was born to a Swiss father and an American mother and was fluent in German, English, and French....
, Antonio Mayans, Paul Müller
Paul Müller (actor)

Paul M?ller is a Switzerland actor....
, Christopher Lee
Christopher Lee

Christopher Frank Carandini Lee Order of the British Empire, Venerable Order of Saint John is an award-winning England actor and singer. He initially portrayed villains and became famous for his role as Count Dracula in a string of Hammer Film Productions films....
, Soledad Miranda
Soledad Miranda

Soledad Rend?n Bueno , better known by her stage names Soledad Miranda or Susann Korda , was an actress who was born in Seville, Spain to Portuguese people parents of Romani people ancestry ....
, Maria Rohm
Maria Rohm

Maria Rohm is an Austrian actress.She is famous for appearing in many exploitation films directed by Jes?s Franco in the late 60s. She is married to film producer Harry Alan Towers since 1964....
, Lina Romay (his longtime companion) and Klaus Kinski
Klaus Kinski

Klaus Kinski was a German actor, famous for his ability to project onscreen intensity, and for his explosive temperament. He acted in over 130 films....
. Kinski is famous for his dislike of directors, but according to Franco, he never had any trouble working with him.

Fictional Portrayal

Spanish comic-book Iberia Inc. by Carlos Pacheco
Carlos Pacheco

Carlos Pacheco is a Spain comic book artist and penciller. Pacheco was born in San Roque , C?diz. He is best known in the United States for his work on titles such as Avengers Forever, X-Men and Green Lantern....
 and Rafael Marín
Rafael Marin

Rafael Mar?n Trechera is a Spanish novelist, translator, comic book writer and co-Plot ter.He is best known in the United States for his work with artist Carlos Pacheco on the Fantastic Four Vol.3 title in 2000 and 2001....
 mentioned a fictional movie, Casta de Heroes directed by Jesús Franco, about Spanish superheroes of the past where Paul Naschy
Paul Naschy

Paul Naschy is a Spain movie actor, screenwriter, and director working primarily in horror films. His portrayal of numerous classic horror figures--the Werewolf fiction, a hunchback, Count Dracula, a mummy--have earned him recognition as a Spanish Lon Chaney, Sr.....
 played "the Ogre", a character inspired in lycantropic villain Lince Dorado. Unsatisfied with this portrayal of himself, Lince Dorado arranged for the original to be lost, and no copy of the film is supposed to remain.

Filmography

Franco has made more than 200 films. Some of these include:

  • The Awful Dr. Orloff (1961)
  • Dr. Orloff's Monster (1964)
  • The Diabolical Doctor Z (Miss Muerte, 1966)
  • Succubus (Necronomicon, 1967)
  • The Blood of Fu Manchu (1968)
  • 99 Women (1969)
  • Marquis de Sade's Justine (1969)
  • The Castle of Fu Manchu
    The Castle of Fu Manchu

    The Castle of Fu Manchu also known by its German title Die Folterkammer des Dr. Fu Man Chu, is the fifth and final Fu Manchu film with Christopher Lee portraying the title character....
     (1969)
  • Venus in Furs
    Venus in Furs (1969 film)

    Venus in Furs is a 1969 in film Italy horror film directed by Jesus Franco and starring James Darren. ...
     (1969)
  • Eugenie... the Story of Her Journey into Perversion (1970)
  • The Bloody Judge (1970)
  • Count Dracula (1970)
  • Vampyros Lesbos
    Vampyros Lesbos

    Vampyros Lesbos is a erotic horror film directed and co-written by Jesus Franco, inspired by Bram Stoker's short story "Dracula's Guest". The main character, Linda Westinghouse , is a young lawyer who travels on a job assignment to an island where she meets the mysterious young and beautiful countess Carody ....
     (1971)
  • She Killed in Ecstasy
    She Killed in Ecstasy

    She Killed in Ecstasy is a 1971 exploitation film written and directed by Jesus Franco under the psuedonym "Frank Hollmann." In this movie the termination of a doctor's project leads to his suicide, which in turn leads to his wife taking revenge on those responsible for terminating said project by seducing then killing them....
     (1971)
  • The Vengeance of Dr. Mabuse (1971)
  • A Virgin Among The Living Dead (1971)
  • Dracula Vs Frankenstein (1972)
  • The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein (1972)
  • The Demons
    The Demons

    The Demons can refer to:*The Possessed , an 1872 novel by Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, also translated as The Devils or The Demons....
     (1972)
  • Female Vampire
    Female Vampire

    Female Vampire or The Bare Breasted Countess is a 1973 France erotic film horror film by Jesus Franco. The plot revolves around Countess Irina von Karstein , a mute woman who needs sexual intercourse like a vampire needs blood in order to stay alive forever....
     (1973)
  • Exorcism and Black Masses (1973)
  • Lorna The Exorcist (1974)
  • Barbed Wire Dolls (1975)
  • Jack the Ripper
    Jack the Ripper (1976 film)

    Jack the Ripper is a 1976 in film Germany crime film directed by Jesus Franco and starring Klaus Kinski. ...
     (1976)
  • Greta The Mad Butcher (1977) aka Ilsa, The Wicked Warden
  • Love Letters of a Portuguese Nun (1977)
  • Women in Cell Block 9 (1977)
  • Mondo Cannibale (1980)
  • Sadomania
    Sadomania

    Sadomania - H?lle der Lust is a 1981 German-Spanish women in prison film directed by Jesus Franco, starring Ajita Wilson....
     (1981)
  • Oasis of the Zombies
    Oasis of the Zombies

    Oasis of the Zombies is a 1981 in film film by cult film director Jesus Franco.The plot involves treasure hunters who track down a lost fortune in Nazism gold in the desert, only to discover that the treasure is still guarded by the soldiers transporting it, who have become zombies....
     (1981)
  • Bloody Moon (1981)
  • Revenge in the House of Usher (1982)
  • Faceless
    Faceless (film)

    Faceless is a 1988 in film French film slasher film directed by Jesus Franco. The film is about Dr. Flamand and his assistant Nathalie who lure unsuspecting victims to use their skin to perform plastic surgery on the doctor's disfigured sister - a plot remeniscent of Franco's first film, Gritos en la noche ....
     (1988)
  • Killer Barbys (1995)
  • Tender Flesh (1996)
  • Lust for Frankenstein (1998)
  • Vampire Blues (1999)
  • Dr. Wong's Virtual Hell (1999)
  • Snakewoman
    Snakewoman

    Snake Woman is a fictional character created by Shekhar Kapur and published by Virgin Comics for their Director's Cut line....
     (2005)


Further reading

  • Jess Franco, Memorias del tío Jess (2004) (autobiography, in Spanish)
  • Stéphane du Mesnilot, Jess Franco - Énergies du fantasme (2004, in French)
  • Alain Petit, Manacoa Files (1994-1999, in French)
  • Lucas Balbo, Peter Blumenstock, Christian Kessler, Tim Lucas
    Tim Lucas

    Tim Lucas is a film critic, biographer, novelist, poet, screenwriter, wikt:Blogger, and publisher/editing of the video review magazine Video Watchdog....
    , Obsession - The Films of Jess Franco (1993)
  • Tim Lucas
    Tim Lucas

    Tim Lucas is a film critic, biographer, novelist, poet, screenwriter, wikt:Blogger, and publisher/editing of the video review magazine Video Watchdog....
    , How to Read a Franco Film, in Video Watchdog n. 1 (1990)
  • The book Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984
    Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984

    Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984 is the title of a 1994 non fiction book by Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs, that won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction....
     (1994) by Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs dedicates a chapter to him.
  • Benedikt Eppenberger, Daniel Stapfer Maedchen, Machos und Moneten: Die unglaubliche Geschichte des Schweizer Kinounternehmers Erwin C. Dietrich. Mit einem Vorwort von Jess Franco. , Zurich, 2006, ISBN 3-033-00960-3
  • Robert Monell, Il codice segreto di Jesus Franco, in Nocturno Dossier n. 60, luglio 2007


External links

  • @ THE DEUCE: Grindhouse Cinema Database
  • (Mexican horror film site)